She holds the cone ever gently, cradling the gift. Exquisite thing, delicate hands. With wonderment she considers its strange beauty.
Maybe lethal, but not to touch. If this be thing most deadly she encounters she will have been blest with good fortune.
As what she holds will transition through life cycle, she, too, will grow and, with time, old. Her dark tresses will gray and thin. Her skin, now smooth, will furrow and the now flawless hands will deform. Time has its way with all things by wintertime.
But it is spring. Let us rejoice in this moment when youth prevails and life is good.
*
And what of me (I, full of years)?
My heart melts.
Inspired by a photo that I cannot post. It is a closeup of a little Asian girl who cradles a brown cone-shaped toadstool in her perfect little hands. She gazes at it intently through almond eyes, a smile (a bit more than a Gioconda smile, but only a little) on her pretty face. Her black hair is more than shoulder-length, and partly hides the warm blue parka she wears. She is at the edge of some woods in Canada. It is springtime; the chill of winter is not yet past.